I Must Admit, I Don't Get It 0.o

[the_gneech]

Y'know, I watched Transformers back in the day; I also watched He-Man, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, and all the rest of the "30-minute toy ad" cartoons of the 1980s. As far as I've ever been able to tell, all of them were about the same level of "mildly entertaining;" they all used the same scripts and just swapped out names, so really it was just a matter of which one was your particular favorite flavor.

I have lots of friends now who are way into Transformers; there have been lots of "SQUEEE!" noises coming from my friends list about the prospect of a new live-action Transformers movie. While I'm glad they're so happy, I have to admit that I'm puzzled at the intensity of the reaction.

I mean yeah, I thought it was neat that Inspector Gadget got a movie, but it was hardly worth bouncing off the walls for.

The only common item I can see is that the friends in question all seem to be 3 - 5 years younger than I am, which would put them as being 8 - 11 years old when those shows were on. 8 - 11 was Empire Strikes Back age for me, and I certainly continue to get enjoyment out of the good parts of the Star Wars saga. Maybe by the time Transformers was on, I'd passed the point where it could be magic for me? Of course, these days I'm pretty jaded ... you could tell me a big budget Speed Racer movie was in the works and I'd respond with, "Neat, I hope it doesn't suck."

And why Transformers particularly? If you like giant robots, why not Macross/Robotech? If you like '80s cartoons, why not Thundercats? Look as I may, I just can't see anything in Transformers worthy of more than, well, being mildly entertained.

Oh well. :) My friends are nuts, I guess. But who cares? As long as they're having fun! :)

-The Gneech

Comments

[bauske.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, Gneech. I don't get it either. I'm in that same age bracket and I don't like the series at all, no offense to those who do. I tried watching the new series as well that was on Cartoon Network a while back, and I almost found the show offensive. The animation was horrible and the voices and story were just... ugh. So as for a movie? I'll pass, thankyouverymuch. :p

[vverevvolf.livejournal.com]

I tried watching the new series as well that was on Cartoon Network a while back, and I almost found the show offensive.

The first season of that was offensive... It was like Transformer's Pokemon for cryin' out loud.

[exatron.livejournal.com]

The two newest Transformers series are almost nothing like the original or Beast Wars and occupy a seperate universe. Armada and Energon both suffer from poor translations, horrendous animation (it doesn't help that the episodes aired in the US are often unfinished to boot), and waste an otherwise talented cast. Thankfully, the new movie will be based on the original cartoon and Marvel comic.

G1 didn't always have the best animation or writing, but it did have some interesting stories that most of its contemporaries weren't allowed to tell. Heck, the whole idea of "living" robots hadn't really been done before.

Much of G1 is silly, campy fun, but there are some really good episodes mixed in there: "Fire in the Sky", "The Golden Lagoon", "The Secret of Omega Supreme", "War Dawn","Dark Awakening", "Fight or Flee", "The Ultimate Weapon", and "The Burden Hardest to Bear" come to mind.

I don't know a lot about the Marvel comic, but it's usually regarded as having a much more serious tone, particularly once Simon Furman became the writer.

As long as the movie is treated like it's real science fiction rather than a feature-length ad, it should end up being watchable. I can almost guarantee that it won't be the best film ever made, but it also can't be much worse than Gili or the Star Wars prequels.